Railway-chronograph



No. 624,385. Patented 'May 2, I899. H. G. SEDGWICK.

RAILWAY GHBONUGRAPH.

(Application am May 17, 1898.) (No Model) 3 Sheets-Sheet l.

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m: Noam Virifli co vncwdwon WASHINGTON, uv c No. 624,385. Patented May2, I899.

H. s. SEDGWICK! RAILWAY CHRONOGBAPH.

(Application filed May 17, 1895.

(No Model.) 3 $haets$heet 2.

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Patented May 2, I899.

H. G. SEDGWICK. RAILWAY CHRONOGBAPH.

(Application filed May 17, 1898.)

3 Sheets-Sheet 3.

(No Model.)

Gum/M1 4 TH: NORRIS PETERS cu. pro-ro-uruo. WASHINGTON, u. c,

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HIRAM e. SEDGWIOK, OF DES MOINES, IOWA.

RAlLWAY-CHRONOGRAPH.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 624,385, dated May 2,1899.

l Application filed May 17, 1898.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, HIRAM G. SEDGWIOK, a citizen of the United States,and a resident of Des Uoines, in the county of Polk and State of Iowa,have invented certain new and use ful Improvements inRailway-Chronographs, of which the following is a specification,reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings, in which-Figure 1 is a plan view of the preferred form of my apparatus; Fig. 2, avertical section on the line 2 2 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3, a vertical sectionon the line 3 3 of Fig. 1; Fig. 4, a vertical section on the line 4 4 ofFig. 3; Fig. 4., a detail view of the punch and die; Fig, 5, a detailvertical section on the line 5 5 of Fig- 1; Fig. 6, a detail section,and-Fig. 6" a detail side elevation, showing the ratchet device foroperating the punch feed-rod; Figs. 7 and 8, detail views showingmodified forms of devices for operating the punch-actuating lever; Fig.9, a detail of the record-sheet; Fig. 10, an end elevation of theapparatus, the clockwork being removed.

The object of this invention is to provide a simple apparatus forautomatically recording the time of the mo vements of railway-switches,semaphores, drawbridges, &c., the record being kept upon a suitabledetachable recordsheet and preferably covering several days, as morefully hereinafter set forth.

In the drawings, ct designates a clock mechanism of the ordinaryconstruction, which is fastened to a suitable base and has secured onthe upper end of the vertical hour-shaft a pinion I), this pinionmeshing with a gear 0, carried by a horizontal disk d, whose verticalshaft 6 is journaled in a bearing supported by a transverse bar f andhas a beveled gear g secured to its lower end. The bar f is supported atits ends by posts h, which are in turn supported upon the ends of alower transverse bar 2', this latter bar being fastened to a long bar orplate j, running diagonally .of the base and supported above,the same byposts 70. The recorddisk I is removably clamped by suitable means to thedisk 01 and is divided off by suitable lines into a plural ity ofsegments, preferably twelve, and these segments are divided by a spiralline running from near the center to or nearly to the edge, as shown inFig. 9 and as more fully hereinaf- Serial No. 680,981. (No model.)

ter described; but it is evident that the record-sheet may be divided upin any other suitable way.

A punch-carrying carriage m is mounted to slide upon barj to and fromthe centerof the record-disk, said carriage being bifurcated at n toembrace the disk and carry the punch devices to near the center thereof.The punch devices consist of a die 0, supported directly over thetime-sheet upon the upper member formed by the bifurcation at and beingadjustable to and from the upper surface of the paper. The punch properconsists of a vertical rod p, supported upon the carriage m directly inline with die 0, but below the paper, this rod preferably carrying acentral punch-point q, adapted to enter a central depression in the die0, and an auxiliary punch 1', adapted to enter a circular channel insaid die 0, this punch r beinglocated to one side of the center of therod, whereby when the punch-rod is rotated said auxiliary punch '1" willrotate about the central punch q and enter the channel in the die atdifferent points. The punch-rod 29 has a limited vertical movementindependently of the supporting-sleeve s, but is adapted to rotatetherewith, said rod being provided with a 111 g or feather t, workin gin a suitable vertical slot or recess in said sleeve. The sleeve sisrotatively fastened to the lower side of arm to of the carriage by meansof a plate 2;, attached to the under side of'said arm to, the said platebeing provided on its upper side with an annular groove for thereception of an annular flange w on the sleeve, whereby the sleeve isfree to rotate, but is held against vertical movement. Punch-rodp isheld normally down byaspring w, encircling it below the lower end ofsleeve 8, the rod being provided with a washer or shoulder 11 at itsextreme lower end to receive the pressure of the spring. The punch-rodis forced upward into the paper bymeans of an angle-lever z, pivotedupon the inner end of the carriage and depending through a slot ct inbar j, into which slot the lower end of said rod 19 extends and works.Said lever a has its lower arm extending under the carriage and providedwith a spring-actuated buffer 11, which abuts against the lower end ofrod 19 when said lever z is operated, said buffer serving to cushion theimpact and also avoid the necessity of a fine adjustment of the parts.The upper end of lever is operated by lateral pins 0', carried by a diskd, fixed on a short transverse shaft journaled upon the inner end of thepunch-carriage, one end of said short shaft carrying a bevelgear 6'.Meshing with wheel 6 is another bevel-gear f, fastened to a sleeve-shaftg, journaled on the inner end of the carriage at right angles to theshaft-carrying wheel 6 and parallel to the movement of the carriage.

Passing through sleeve g is a shaft h, which at one end is free and atits other end is journaled in a standard 2', secured to bar j, near oneend thereof, upon the opposite side of the record-disk, said shaft beingfastened to the sleeve by a spline and featherj, whereby the shaft mayslide end wise through the sleeve, but is compelled to rotate therewith.Any suitable devices may be employed to rotate shaft h; but prefer thedevices shown, which consist, mainly, of a lever 7t, pivoted upon thebase and normally held up by a spring 1 and connected at its free end bya suitable jointed link m to the upper end of an arm n, journaledloosely on shaft 7L and provided with a lateral boss 0', through whichsaid shaft passes and which is provided with a series of radialprojections 19', said projections being adapted to engage against theend of a spring-pawl pivoted on the adjacent face of a disk 1", fastenedto said shaft h, whereby the vibration of arm n (by means of lever andlink m) will intermittently rotate shaft 7t through the medium of lugs17, pawl q, and disi 7', said shaft h being prevented from rotating inthe reverse direction by means of a spring-pawl s, fastened to anadjacent part of the frame and engaging a ratchet-wheel carried by theshaft h.

Fastened upon the sleeve g, at the end opposite bevel-wheelf, is anotherbevel-wheel u, which meshes with a bevel-wheel 2), secured upon thelower end of a short vertical counter-shaft w, journaled on the carriagehi, this co u nter-shaft carrying a pinion 00, which meshes with atransmitting-gear 1 also carried by the carriage, this gear y in turnmeshing with a gear .2", fastened to sleeve 8 at a point just below part1*. By means of this simple arrangement of gearing it will be observedthat the punch-rod is rotated simultaneously with the rotation of shafth.

The carriage m is normally drawn toward the center of disk d by means ofa contractile spring a connecting the carriage to a stationary part ofthe frame. Its movement is regulated from the clock mechanism by anysuitable mechanism, preferably by means of a link b pivoted at one endto the carriage and carrying at its free end a worm-nut 0 which rests inengagement with a worm-shaft d journaled upon .bar j upon the oppositeside of the center of the disk and parallel with the line of movement ofthe carriage, said wormshaft receiving its motion through a bevel-gear emeshing with the before-described gear g, carried by the disk-shaft.

It will be obse 'ved that the record-sheet is rotated regularly by .theclockwork and that the punch-carrying carriage is simultaneouslytherewith moved toward the center of the disk through the medium of thespring (t worm-shaft, and connecting devices. When it is desired tooperate the punch, it is simply necessary to depress lever 7: far enoughto cause one of the pins 0 to impinge against the upper end of lever .2and force the buffer or hammer I) up against the punch-carrying rod,this rod being forced up until its punchpoints puncture therecord-paper. As soon as pin 0' passes above the end of lever .2 thespring x will throw the punch -rod down quickly away from the paper andthe parts will be in position for another operation. Simultaneously withthe reciprocation of the punch-rod it will also be rotated by thegearing shown far enough to bring the auxiliary punch r to a new placeon the paper, whereby the number of times the punch is operated will beregistered upon the disk of paper, the punctures being made by theauxiliary punch being of course arranged in a circle around thecentralpunch rod, as described and claimed in my copending application, SerialNo. 680,504, filed May 12,1898. It will be observed that when thecarriage reaches the limit ofits inward travel it may be drawn outwardagain in position to start a new record by simply disengaging thehalf-nut o from the worm. The record-disk may contain the record for anynumber of days and may be divided up by radial lines into any suitablenumber of divisions of time. In the drawings the disk is shown dividedby radial lines into twelve segments, one segment for each hour, and thesegments are divided by a spiral line, which indicates the line oftravel of the punch over the surface of the disk, one complete spiralshowing the movement for twelve hours. The record-disk shown in Fig. 9is sufficient to receive the record of four days, and, as shown, theday-records are distinguished from the night-records by making thespirals indicating the latter records darker than those indicating theformer.

This apparatus is especially designed to show the time of operatingrailway-switches, semaphores, drawbridges, railway-gates,railway-brakes, &e.; but it is obvious that it may be used for a greatvariety of other purposes. The lever 70 is to be connected up in anysuitable mannerwith a movable part of the switch or other apparatus,so'that at each operation said lever 70 will be depressed automatically.In some instances it is of advantage not only to know when the switch orother device is operated, but also the number of times it is shown inFig. '7, lever 7t may be made to rest upon a three-sided cam f connectedto a switch or other rod g by means of an arm h whereby at each completerotation of the cam said lever 75 will be operated three times whicheverway the cam is rotated. This device may be employed in connection with aswitch at the junction of the three sets of tracks and will show thevarious movements of the switch. The device shown in Fig. 8 may beemployed where the recorder is used in connection with air or steambrakes, a suitable oscillating lever i being operated by the movement ofpiston-rodj projecting from the air or steam cylinder Z of the usualconstruction, said lever 1' having one end formed angular, as at mwhereby at each oscillation of the lever the lever will receive acomplete vibration, whereby a complete stroke of the brake-piston willshow two supplemental punctures in the record-sheet. It will be observedthat any other suitable arrangement of devices may be employed to adaptthe ap paratus to special uses, and it will also be observed that anydeviccs other than the punchers shown may be employed to puncture orrecord upon the record-sheet the time of op erating the punclrcarryin grod.

It will be observed that an essential feature lies in the constructionwhereby the spring a performs the work of moving the carriage toward thecenter of the record-disk and the clock mechanism simply the work ofretarding or controlling (through the medium of the worm, the half-nut cand link b the movement of the carriage against the spring,whereby thework of moving the carriage is thrown entirely on the spring and theclock mechanism is caused to run with more accuracy.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is

1. In the recording device, the combination of a record-sheet holder andclock mechanism for rotating it, a carriage carrying the record-- ingdevice, a spring fornormally moving said carriage across the face of therecord-sheet, means whereby the normal movement of the carriage isretarded and regulated from the clock mechanism, whereby the springperforms the function of moving the carriage and the clock mechanism isrelieved of that work, said means consisting essentially of a wormshaftreceiving motion from the clock mechanism, a traveling nut engaging saidworm and being disengageable therefrom, and a part connecting said nutto the carriage, as and for the purpose set forth.

2. In a recording instrument, means for holding, and clock mechanism forrotating, a record-disk, a carriage carrying a recording device, meansfor moving said carriage radially with respect to the recording-disk andsimultaneously with the rotation thereof, said means consistingessentially of a spring adapt ed to normally draw the carriage towardthe center of the disk'and devices adapted to retard and control thenormal movement ofsaid carriage against the action of itsactuatingspring, whereby the clock mechanism is relieved of the work ofmoving the carriage.

In a recording device, the combination of a record-sheet holder andclock mechanism for rotating the same, a carriage carrying the recordingdevice, a spring for normally movin g said carriage across the face ofthe recordsheet, means whereby the normal movement of the carriage isretarded and regulatedfrom the clock mechanism, whereby the springperforms the function of moving the carriage and the clock mechanism isrelieved of that duty. 4. In a time-recorder, the combination of a base,a record-disk holder and clock mechanism for rotating it, a carriagecarrying a record-punch, means for moving said carriage radially withrespect to the disk, said means being controlled from the clockmechanism and consisting essentially of a worm journaled upon the basesubstantially parallel to the line of movement of the carriage, meansfor operating said worm from the clock mechanism, a half-nut restingupon said worm, and a swinging rod connecting said half-nut to thecarriage. v

5. The combination of a base, a record-disk holder and mechanism forrotating the same, a carriage and means for moving the same radiallywith respect to the disk, a reciprocating punch carried by the carriagebelow the record-disk, a die supported above the disk, an angle-levercarried by the carriage and adapted to engage the punch, arotating partsupported upon the carriage and adapted to operate said lever, a sleevejournaled upon the carriage approximately parallel with its line ofmovement and carrying a bevel-gear engaging said rotatable part, a shafth journaled upon the base and passing through said sleeve and adapted torotate with it and move endwise independently of it, and devices forrotating said shaft h at intervals, substantially as described.

6. In a time-recorder, the combination of a base, a record-disk holderand clock mechanism rotating it, a carriage carrying a record punch-rod,said punch-rod consisting of a reciprocating rotary rod carrying a mainpunch and an auxiliary punch, means supported on the carriage forrotating and reciprocating said punch-rod, a shaft supported on the baseand engaging said devices upon the carriage and adapted to operate them,and means for rotating said shaft.

Signed by me, at Washington, District of Columbia, this 27th day ofApril, 1898.

HIRAM G.'SEDGWIOI{. YVitnesses:

C. D. DAVIS, WM. R. DAVIS.

